My Love for Germany ...

21 November 2012

A discussion featured in the new series "Visions of Belonging"

By means of the discussion series "Visionen der Zugehörigkeit" (Visions of Belonging), the Jewish Museum Berlin, advised by DeutschPlus e.V., creates a forum for a productive dialogue, in which visions and actions for an increasingly plural German society can be developed.

"When I think of Germany in the night, I cannot sleep," Heinrich Heine wrote about his country in exile in Paris in 1843, swaying between ironic detachment and longing. Heine, who experienced exclusion from German society throughout his lifetime, is now one of the most translated poets of the German language and shaped the image of Germany at home and abroad.

What image of Germany do German cultural figures have today? What do they value as positive? And how do their experiences and perspectives as a minority influence contemporary cultural life? Which works of German culture open up space for identification for them and their audience? Which new German narratives emerge today that reflect cross-cultural influences?